Mini Sue - 1988 City Rebuild
Sill Replacement
"just chop out the old one and weld the new ones in place. Sounds easy..."
The car came with new inner sills ready to fit and had already had outer sills fitted so with the boot floor on hold for a while I thought I'd try to fit the new inner sills.
To fit the new inner sills you're meant to just chop out the old one and weld the new ones in place. Sounds easy...
I'd marked out where the new sill would fit and with a cutting disc on my grinder I set to chopping out the old sill. It took a while to get through which confused me as the replacement is quite thin. Once I'd opened it up I though I saw the problem. There where three old sills in total, repair ones had been simply welded over the top! This had lead to some horric rust in this area which of course would all need cutting out before I could weld in the new sill...
Oh look...some more rust!
What I could not understand though is how the guys who had fitted the new outer sill before I bought the car had not do a proper job of cleaning up all the old rust? I decided that I would not trust any of the previous repair work and would assume that it was dodgy from now on. With that said I cut off the new outer sill repair and found a mountain of rust waiting for me.
The old jacking point was so rusted that it simply fell off the car once the outer sill was removed. I won't be replacing it as it would mean leaving a hole in the sill where water might be able to get in and repeat this damage. Instead I'll be blanking off the box cross member and the hole in the sill with plate. I intend to carry my bottle jack with me which I can use on the sub frames to jack the car up if needed.
I removed the old seat belt mounting from the old sill(s) and saved it so I can weld it to the new one before I fit it.
While looking through for some more panels I spotted a new panel that replaces the door step and the bottom of the rear quarter panel (which has also rusted through on my car). Two of these where ordered and with that I set about cutting the whole lot off. The rear seat bins where showing lots of rust damage and again lots of rot had been left in when the new outer sill had been fitted, why? I'll need to create some new rear bin liners from some sheet steel and I think some of the floor will need replacing too...when will it end.
On this picture you can see some of the work I'd done to fit the flip front. That was done before I removed the front subframe. The little grey panel with the holes cut in it on the A panel is where the Dzus fasteners go, hinges attach the wings and front panel to the subframe and finally there are some over center clips that pull the wings down to the inner wings. The bonnet is held on by bonnet pins at the back and over center clips at the front (you can seen the plates for the pins in white in the top corners of the engine bay).
The old repairs on the A pillar where living up to their shoddy reputation. The A panel itself popped off with a little prod and the hinge support panels where not even attached to each other. I know the old owner only wanted this as a race car not a road car but still, this stuff all adds to the strength of the shell and the life span of the car, it should have been done better.
More welding will be needed at the foot of the A pillar. I'll need to clean all this up first though.
After having seen the damage that water can do in here I've bought some Dynax S-50 cavity wax from Bilt-Hamber Labs. It comes in a aerosol with applicator tube and it meant to be very good. I'll be using it in the cross members and sills (and anywhere else I can get it) once the welding is done. Its made for this sort of work but I won't be using it on the underside of the car, going to stick to good old Hammerite underseal for that. I also bought some fantastic eco-friendly Rust eater from the same guys called Deox Gel which I can't praise enough. Looks like apple sause but works a treat especially if you leave it on for a day or two (cover it in cligfilm if you do). Just don't let it dry out on your metal work, it seems to turn to varnish if you do!
